What is simplest way to control this light from home assistant? Simpler wiring is ideal even if a little more expensive, as I’m not sure I can turn off the circuit easily from the breaker (it does have a GFCI which I might be able to turn off).
I've used both Shelly (reprogrammed with ESP-HOME) and Z-Wave light switches. They both have pros and cons but work well. I would lean towards recommending Shelly.
Edit: and side your using an RPi, migrate to an SSD if you haven't already. The SD card won't last long
3 majorly used brands for smart relays are sonoff, aqara and Shelly. Honestly they all do the job perfectly well for lights if you just want on/off. You can also go with a light switch that is wifi but you’ll need to identify if you have neutral or not. If you could take a picture of inside the box we can help with identifying if you have neutral present or not and make a better suggestion. Also it’s usually great, for simplicity sake, to tell us what market you are in(example USA/canada/Europe/japan)
If the electrical box is there a white wire? If so then you can use a smart switch that works with your current ecosystem (ZigBee, z-wave, Wi-Fi, etc)
Edit: typo
When I switched my light switch for basement lights to led bulbs, I used a so off smart switch and just wired it so it was always on. The relay still makes a nice little tactile click.
That switch sends the trigger to ha to do light things, works great. I’m no ac pro so I’ll leave that to people that know better
Sonoff relay, preferably Zigbee but you can go WiFi if you don’t use Zigbee. You won’t be able to dim, just on and off. They have no neutral models too.
There should be 4 wires ground, line, load, and neutral. If you only see ground, line, and load then you don’t have a neutral. From that picture I only see 3, I don’t think you have a neutral wire.
Dumb question. How do I know which of the black wires on my switch is light/load and which is power/line? I don’t have a voltmeter or anything like that
I’d buy a cheap non contact voltage tester (looks like a pen). Home Depot has them for like $20 and it makes it easy to tell which is line (and of power is really off).
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u/Circuit_Guy 6h ago
I've used both Shelly (reprogrammed with ESP-HOME) and Z-Wave light switches. They both have pros and cons but work well. I would lean towards recommending Shelly.
Edit: and side your using an RPi, migrate to an SSD if you haven't already. The SD card won't last long